The Restaurants Association of Ireland recently announced the top 10 finalists in the Foodie Destinations competition 2016, formerly known as “Foodie Towns”.
This year the list is formed by the Boyne Valley, Cong in Co Mayo, Derry, Monaghan, Sligo, Kilkenny, Dublin Coastal Village (Skerries, Howth and Malahide), Loop Head Peninsula and The Burren.
The competition aims to find Ireland’s top ‘food destination 2016’, a place that combines wonderful food offerings and appealing local food tourism options.
A pair of independent assessors will visit the finalists in the coming weeks. A national public voting campaign will complement their assessment. The experts’ vote and the public vote each account for 50% of the total score and the overall winner will be announced in September.
ABOUT THE RESTAURANTS ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND
“The Restaurants Association of Ireland was formed in 1970 with the initial goal of forming a strong lobby that would represent the industry at Government level on issues of importance to the Irish restaurant industry.
Nine branches were formed around the country, all of which still exist today. The Association’s efforts in 1986 to get VAT reduced from 25% to 10% and again in 2013 to maintain the VAT at 9% was the result of the expert lobbying of a group of dedicated restaurateurs on behalf of themselves and their colleagues.
Such successes have been repeated over the years, particularly in the areas of taxation, licensing, standards, curriculum development both at Irish Government level and also at European level.
The RAI now represents in excess of 1,400 members, with establishments representing full service restaurants, coffees shops, hotel restaurants, gastropubs, golf clubs and cookery schools. We also have over 100 trade partners, businesses that are our approved suppliers of products and services for restaurants.”
For more information visit rai.ie
